You can get away from opening the tablet, (using a S-VIDEO cable) but you can open it if you want to make a "cleaner" job of integrating the Teensy inside.

The A5 Artpad I am not sure I have that one around, but I believe all the Wacom ADBs are the same "protocol-wise" (more or less). I cannot guarantee it would work first shot, but, if it does not work, we could dump the ADB packets and discover what's different about it and tweak the code to fit. I do not see this as a problem.

For the UD-1212-R: sure, this hack has been done a few times now on that model. Check the appropriate thread about it.

Thanks for the quick answer. I can use a soldering iron but I've never been good at electronics : how do I solder the "pull-up" resistor?Is there a diagram/wiring instructions for the serial interface as well?

UD-1212-R: There are pictures with annotations in the UD-1212-R thread, you saw them? What else would you want?

ADB: Ah yes, the wiki is not clear on that. I updated it.

For the records: A "pull-up" is a resistor that "pulls the voltage up" (when nobody else drives it "low" (0 volts). With ADB there is only one wire for the data that is shared between the computer and the tablet, so each device take turns to drive it. When the line is released from 0 volt, it needs to go back to 5V. You essentially have to connect the resistor between the data (C7) and the 5V (VCC). I tried avoiding this but the AVR CPU internal pull-ups are too "weak" and it thus takes too much time to pull the signal back to 5V. So now you have to find a 1k..5k resistor. You can look at the effect of the pullup on the ADB signal in this post: http://forum.bongofish.co.uk/index.php?topic=1738.msg12856#msg12856 (look at the images).

I've just finished updating Waxbee to support my Intuos1 4D mouse and I also attempted to make it support the Lens cursor (puck), but since I don't have a lens I can't be sure it works. So give it a test and let us know after Bernard posts the new version (probably later today).

I also attempted to make it support the 2D mouse and airbrush tools but, again, I couldn't test them without access to those tools. So all the Intuos1 and Intuos2 tools should now be working, in theory.

This update also passes through each tool's unique 32 bit serial number ("Device S/N" in the Wacom control panel) to the USB driver.

Dragon sent me a fairly big patch for this. It will take me a little bit of time to digest it (after I get back home from the holidays). Dragon: if you are in a hurry to test your stuff, you can make a "special version" for him to try (privately if possible else make sure you put a special "version number" that will not create confusion if this goes in the wild).

EDIT: (fixed the zip url in post below)EDIT: the above patch is part of WaxBee version 0.11

Can anybody tell me if a Teensy + some configuration work will make my ArtPad II (the serial one, not the ADB version) work with Windows 7 x64? It seems as if no one has tried to use a KT-0405-R, but serial tablets in general work. Is it just a matter of building a RS 232 <=> TTL converter, hooking it up to the Teensy and then creating the configuration for the conversion of ArtPad => Intuos/Graphire/whatever?

So, do you think it's worth trying?

If not I would have to buy a piece of cryptic and currently not even working software that looks like it's teleported from the early 90s (Virtual Tablet) or I would have to buy a new tablet.

I looked through the Linux drivers for any mention of ArtPad and couldn't find one. However, this post talks about someone who got an ArtPad working on Ubuntu using a serial to USB converter, so the Linux drivers must support it. As long as Linux supports it, Waxbee can be modified to support it or might already support it.

I think the next step would be to open it up and post pictures here of the front of the circuit board to see if it looks like any of the previously modified tablet circuit boards.

If you are willing to do this, then you can start a new thread for your tablet model (KT-0405-R)

There is a good chance the ArtPad II uses the same protocol as the ultrapads (or very close). So this has good chances of working.

Do you have access to a machine with a serial port (or through a USB/serial converter?) -- I would like you to make a few tests before you do the mod so we can check the protocol bits and baud rates.

And even if the linux drivers does not support it, we can still support it This is just a serial port after all. If you are willing to put a bit of time, the chances of succeeding is near 100%. (not 100% because you can always make a mistake and burn something in the tablet), but in terms of "software in the teensy", this can be made to work.

Did a bit of reading on http://libvncserver.sourceforge.net/qemu/wacom-progman.pdf -- the KT-0405-R is mentionned there. It is using Protocol 4 (IV) -- exactly like the Ultrapads. They say the ROM version is 1.3 for ArtPad II, if this is the same as Ultrapads ROM 1.3, then this will work right off the bat.

Sounds great! So it's like an Ultrapad?! Maybe: I think the pen that I use is also called UltraPen Eraser or something like this.

I am using the tablet right now on my Windows XP x64 system and I have two more serial ports where there is no Wacom driver listening. What kind of tests do you want me to do? I read so many posts here, I can't remember all the tools you used before.

When I post the results for the tests you mentioned or some pictures, I will create a new thread for this.

Essentially hook up the tablet to a serial port and connect with a terminal software -- I use "RealTerm". Set to 9600 bauds, No parity, 8 bit, 1 stop bit, enable "half duplex" (to see what you are typing) and open the proper COM port number. Switch to Ascii and enter commands like ~#<enter> and ~C<enter>. Then change the Display to Hex(space) and do small pen movements. Either do a screenshot or dump the data into a file. This software UI has rough edges, it is really "hacky", but it does works and have loads of functionality.

~R<enter>

WaxBee will attempt to send the following string. So try it (but it might not work) -- it might switch to 19200 bauds (you might have to switch RealTerm to 19200 bauds after doing this)

BTW, if you do open up your ArtPad to take pictures of the front of the board, be sure to wear a grounding strap or at least touch the case of a nearby computer or other piece of grounded electronics periodically.

See this post to get some idea of what your size of tablet might look like inside. Be sure to take pictures of where things go before you fully disassemble it so you can put it back together correctly.

Wow! Just joined the forum and my head is spinning with a mass of information which has only half gone in.

I found a thread on here initially about converting a wacom to usb after I began to search for a solution to using my Ultrapad a5 in Win 7 which I've not yet moved over to. Currently I am using Win xp and bought a usb to serial device as my recent build didn't have a serial port. I then found out from Wacom that they no longer support serial pads from win 7 on. So I initially thought perhaps someone might have written a driver that does work with them. It seems crazy that Wacom can't be bothered to support these pads since it appears that all they had to do was to maintain the serial support to their all in one driver package.

I think I understand some of the issues but I didn't expect the solution to be a conversion but I'm amazed that it is possible if one has the cahonies (sp?). I'm not against trying it if it's the best (or only) solution but perhaps someone can give me a potted explanation to what is going on in this conversion.

I am confused about a few things like:

1) The Teensy - is it required to emulate a usb product, namely one of the current wacom usb tablets?2) if so then can I assume that the Wacom drivers are generic enough to establish the features of the older serial tablets and deal with them. eg. function strip on the ultrapad etc?3) or is Waxbee a driver as well or is it the software to program the teensy?

I've seen a thread on the ultrapad which I will read again but on first pass I wasn't quite sure if it had enough information for me to have a go at it with one of the other options available in the EU. I'm in the UK and will have the usual problem of getting stuff from the US. They often charge postage which far exceeds the cost of the product although I've not yet enquired on the Teensy yet. It would be best if I could get the right device as most of the info seems to be around this device.

Finally, sorry for hijacking this thread but as it's my first post I can't start a new one. Thanks to all for the project which I'm sure I'll grasp eventually and make a decision. I hated the idea of dumping this beautiful piece of equipment on the tip just because of the lack of a driver. It works well and besides I don't have the money to shell out on a new pad with these features.

1) The Teensy - is it required to emulate a usb product, namely one of the current wacom usb tablets?2) if so then can I assume that the Wacom drivers are generic enough to establish the features of the older serial tablets and deal with them. eg. function strip on the ultrapad etc?3) or is Waxbee a driver as well or is it the software to program the teensy?

The Teensy is much like a serial to USB converter dongle except it runs custom firmware (WaxBee) that translates the serial data into USB data that tricks the Wacom driver into thinking you're actually running an Intuos2 or a few other tablets of your choice.

WaxBee isn't a driver installed on your operating system - it's firmware loaded on the Teensy.

The current version of WaxBee mostly just translates tool position on your tablet to the same tool position on the "fake" Intuos2 or other fake tablet. Since the Intuos2 menu strip didn't change from the Intuos1 menu strip, the Intuos1 menu strip works fine through WaxBee. I'm not sure if the same might be true for the Ultrapad function strip but Bernard probably knows.

Quote

I've seen a thread on the ultrapad which I will read again but on first pass I wasn't quite sure if it had enough information for me to have a go at it with one of the other options available in the EU. I'm in the UK and will have the usual problem of getting stuff from the US. They often charge postage which far exceeds the cost of the product although I've not yet enquired on the Teensy yet. It would be best if I could get the right device as most of the info seems to be around this device.

Check out this thread for some information on where to get Teensy for UK residents. Also, the guy doing this build is planning to construct some sort of external serial to USB converter to plug the Teensy into in order to avoid soldering onto his tablet directly, so you can follow if and how he accomplishes that if you're interested. You can also read arguments for and against doing that in the thread.

Quote

I hated the idea of dumping this beautiful piece of equipment on the tip just because of the lack of a driver. It works well and besides I don't have the money to shell out on a new pad with these features.

I agree! I can see why Wacom doesn't want to put forth the effort to develop and support a 64 bit serial driver for tablets like mine that are getting near 15 years old, but I also hate throwing something away that still works fine. Too many companies are all about making things that last 5 years or less and then charging the consumer to buy a new one, which wastes a lot of money, wastes a lot of energy that goes into making and shipping new products, and creates a lot of toxic electronic trash. So I'm all in favor of WaxBee conversions.